Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom

The captain whipped around. “Shameless hussy! Trouser-wearing
slattern! Get off my deck!” He came on again, and this time she
parried his cut, then disengaged, dancing back. She glanced over her
shoulder at Jack, her eyebrows raised inquiringly. Jack could read her
question as clearly as if she’d spoken it. Who IS this ancient lunatic?
“Abomination!” howled the captain. “Leave my ship!”
“Señor.” She spoke for the first time, her voice low and musical.
She wasn’t even breathing hard. “I know not who you are, but you are
sadly lacking in manners. That is no way to speak to a lady. Drop your
sword, and you and your crew will live.”
Bainbridge came in again, slashing madly, and again she parried.
She stopped retreating and began to circle, her footwork light and
balanced, in contrast to the old man’s lumbering steps. “Please, señor.
Stop this foolish attack. I do not wish to harm you.”
Bainbridge’s only reply was an epithet so vile that Jack’s
eyebrows rose.
“Señor!” Doña Pirata said reprovingly. “Please, such language! I
must protest!” She parried another hard but clumsy lunge. “You will
upset my crew, hurt their tender ears.”
Bainbridge repeated the curse. She laughed. The slow, relentless
circling continued. Jack edged around the perimeter of their path,
keeping his head ducked so Venganza’s crew couldn’t see his face,
considering his options. Should he knock the captain out with the butt
of the pistol? Esmeralda was toying with Bainbridge, for the moment,
and he knew she was speaking truthfully when she said she didn’t want
to hurt him. But if the old man managed to get in a lucky thrust, or
lunge…or if his name-calling annoyed her…
While Jack hesitated, Bainbridge, panting like a dog, cursed his
opponent again, slashing wildly at her head. Esmeralda ducked, but as
she did so, the tip of the old man’s sword caught the plume on her hat,
cutting it in half.
She sprang back, saw the puff of white feather fluttering in the
breeze, and her expression darkened. “You pompous old fool!” she
spat, in Spanish. “I paid twenty pesos for that feather! You stop this
nonsense!” And then she lunged.
Her form was perfect. Her sword slid in past Bainbridge’s guard